''Helvetica'' is a 2007 American independent feature-length

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...

and

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

, centered on the eponymous typeface. Directed by

Gary Hustwit Gary Hustwit is an American independent filmmaker and photographer. He is best known for his design documentaries, which examine the impact of trends in graphic design, typography, industrial design, architecture, and urban planning. He told ''D ...

, it was released in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction in 1957 and is considered the first of the

Design Trilogy The Design Trilogy is the collective name of a series of three documentary films about design directed by film director Gary Hustwit. The films are: *2007: ''Helvetica'', on the famous typeface of the same name *2009: ''Objectified'', on industr ...

by the director.

Synopsis

''Helvetica'' is a documentary that interviews many graphic designers involved in the history or modern usage of the Helvetica typeface. The initial interviews discuss the original creator Alfred Hoffmann, and his goals for creating a clean, legible type relating to the ideals of the

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

movement. Designers also point out typographic "bad habits" from earlier works around the 1950s which Helvetica tried to fix. For example, illegible hand-made lettering and cramped cursive. Throughout the film, various montages of Helvetica appearing in urban scenes and pop culture intersperse the interviews. Later, other interviewers point out criticisms of Helvetica. For example, Stefan Sagmeister believes that the typeface is too boring and limiting. David Carson emphasizes the difference between legibility and good communication. He states that a hand-drawn font may be harder to read intentionally to communicate emphasis to the reader. Other designers dislike Helvetica on the grounds of ideology. They instead prefer hand-illustrated typefaces centered around

Postmodernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...

, and rejecting conformity. Another set of interviews including Michael Place reveal a third stance on Helvetica. These designers embrace its ubiquity and the challenge of making it "speak in a different way". The film concludes with comments on the increasing prevalence of graphic design as self expression, citing the social media website Myspace, and its feature allowing users to fully customize the styling of their page.

Interviewees

* Manfred Schulz *

Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli (; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas including packaging, houseware, furniture, public signage, and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his ...

Rick Poynor Rick Poynor is a British writer on design, graphic design, typography, and visual culture. Career He began as a general visual arts journalist, working on ''Blueprint'' magazine in London. After founding Eye (magazine), ''Eye'' magazine, which he ...

Wim Crouwel Willem Hendrik "Wim" Crouwel (; 21 November 1928 – 19 September 2019) was a Dutch people, Dutch graphic designer, Type design#Profession, type designer, and Typography, typographer. Early life and education Between 1947 and 1949, he studied ...

Matthew Carter Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is a British type designer.Christophe_Plantin.html" ;"title="y Christophe Plantin">y Christophe Plantin' in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) long withPlantin's accoun ...

* Alfred Hoffmann, Eduard Hoffmann's son
Mike Parker
Linotype's typographic development director. * Otmar Hoefer * Bruno Steinert * Hermann Zapf *

Michael Bierut Michael Bierut (born 1957) is a graphic designer, design critic and educator, who has been a partner at design firm Pentagram since 1990. He designed the logo for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Early life and education Michael Bier ...

Leslie Savan
*

Tobias Frere-Jones Tobias Frere-Jones (born Tobias Edgar Mallory Jones; August 28, 1970) is an American type designer who works in New York City. He operates the company Frere-Jones Type and teaches typeface design at the Yale School of Art MFA program. Among his ty ...

Jonathan Hoefler Jonathan Hoefler (; born August 22, 1970) is an American typeface designer. Hoefler founded the Hoefler Type Foundry in 1989, a type foundry in New York. Early life Jonathan Hoefler was born on August 22, 1970, in New York City to Doreen Ben ...

Erik Spiekermann Erik Spiekermann (born 30 May 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony) is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design. Biography Spiekermann studied art his ...

Neville Brody Neville Brody, (born 23 April 1957) is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director. He is known for his work on ''The Face'' magazine (1981–1986), ''Arena'' magazine (1987–1990), and designing record covers for artists such a ...

Lars Müller
*

Paula Scher Paula Scher (born October 6, 1948, Washington, D.C.) is an American graphic designer, painter and art educator in design. She also served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991.Scher, Paula." (n.d.): Oxford University ...

Stefan Sagmeister Stefan Sagmeister (born August 6, 1962) is an Austrian graphic designer, storyteller, and typographer based in New York City. In 1993, Sagmeister founded his company, Sagmeister Inc., to create designs for the music industry. He has designed alb ...

* David Carson *

Experimental Jetset An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

Michael C. Place
*

Norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...

Production

Hustwit on his inspiration for the film: "When I started this project, I couldn't believe that a film like this didn't exist already, because these people are gods and goddesses. What they do is more than just logos and corporate branding - they design the type that we read every day in newspapers and magazines, onscreen and on television. Fonts don't just appear out of Microsoft Word: there are human beings and huge stories behind them."

Release

''Helvetica'' premiered at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Film Festival in March 2007. The film toured around the world for screenings in selected venues, such as the IFC Center in New York, the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

London,

the Gene Siskel Film Center The Gene Siskel Film Center, formerly The Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and commonly referred to as The Film Center or The Gene Siskel, is the cinematheque attached to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It ...

in Chicago, and the Roxie Cinema in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. ''Helvetica'' was nominated for the 2008 Independent Spirit's Truer than Fiction Award. Bands and musicians that contributed to the documentary's soundtrack include

Four Tet Kieran Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting UK albums such as '' Rounds'' ( ...

The Album Leaf The Album Leaf is an American musical project founded in San Diego, California, in 1998 by Jimmy LaValle. He is known for his use of electronics, synthesizer, and Rhodes piano. His performances often feature projected visual art. History Inc ...

Kim Hiorthøy Kim Hiorthøy (born March 17, 1973) is a Norwegian electronic musician, graphic designer, illustrator, filmmaker and writer. Biography Hiorthøy was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway, and studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art (1991–96 ...

Caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

Battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

Sam Prekop Sam Prekop (born October 18, 1964) is an American musician in the band The Sea and Cake. He also has released five solo albums. Early life Prekop was born in London, but grew up in Chicago. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute. Career ...

The Sea and Cake The Sea and Cake is an American indie rock band with a jazz influence, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The group formed in the mid-1990s from members of The Coctails (Archer Prewitt), Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge), an ...

, and

El Ten Eleven El Ten Eleven is an American, Los Angeles-based, post-rock duo, known for combining guitar/bass doubleneck or fretless bass, with heavy looping, or vamping, and the use of an effects pedal, over acoustic or electric drumming. They have releas ...

. An edited version of the film was broadcast in the UK on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

in November 2007, as part of

Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (born 11 March 1947) is a BBC presenter and retired British television executive. He stepped down as Creative Director in December 2015, and was chairman of the board of trustees of the charity Kids Company from 2003 until its collap ...

's ''Imagine'' series. It aired in January 2009 as part of the ''

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Ho ...

'' series on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

in the United States.

Critical reception

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'' editor Steve Dollar claimed the odd details and vocals aside made the movie more compelling than might otherwise be imagined.

Awards and nominations

In 2008, the documentary was nominated for "Truer Than Fiction Award" during the

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with Poly(methyl m ...

Home media

The film was released on DVD in November 2007 by

Plexifilm Plexifilm was an independent DVD label and film production company co-founded by Gary Hustwit (formerly VP of Salon.com) and Sean Anderson (formerly Director of DVD Development of The Criterion Collection) in 2001. Plexifilm produced original film ...

. The film was released on

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

in May 2008, produced by Matt Grady of Plexifilm. The limited (1,500 copies) edition includes Gary Hustwit's autograph. The packaging of the Blu-ray version was designed by

, who also appeared in the film, and printed by A to Z Media.

References

External links

* * *
Motion Graphics by Trollback + CompanyHelvetica DVD review
{{Gary Hustwit 2007 films 2007 documentary films American documentary films British documentary films American independent films Typography Documentary films about the visual arts History of printing British independent films Films directed by Gary Hustwit 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000s British films